Sheffield Eagles: Blake Broadbent commits to club who are hopeful over deal for Paddy Burns

Youngster Blake Broadbent will extend his stay with Sheffield Eagles, whilst director of rugby Mark Aston confirms he is keen to also tie down fellow Academy graduate Paddy Burns.

Broadbent has starred for the Eagles during the closing weeks of the 2018 season, ending the campaign with four tries from his seven Championship appearances in his breakthrough season.

Aston confirmed that the forward has agreed a two-year contract extension, after initially signing a one-year deal earlier in the year following an initial six-week trial.

Broadbent also gained experience with 14 appearances on dual-registration with League One Hemel, impressing the staff with a string of consistent displays, despite a disappointing end to the season for the team overall.

“Blake has agreed a new two-year deal which is great news for us,” Aston confirmed to The Star.

“He bagged another try against Rochdale which was great for him. He is only going to get better because he will work harder. He has that mentality like his dad had. He's going to be great.”

The futures of Aston’s current crop are almost all rubber-stamped, with several departures confirmed just prior to last weekend’s final game of the season.

Broadbent was one of the cases still left outstanding, as Aston looks to put the finishing touches to his line-up for next season.

Fellow youngster Paddy Burns is still someone Aston is keen to tie down, whilst talks with the agent of ex-St Helens ace Mike Weldon continue, with Aston looking for both to agree new deals after they arrived during the course of 2018 on one-year contracts.

“Hopefully we'll get something over the line with Paddy in the next couple of weeks,” Aston confirmed.

“To get the likes of Paddy and Blake over the line is pretty important to us because they are our own kids.

“We’re still talking about Mike. We have spoken to his agent. His agent is just having a think about it, and having a look around so we'll take it from there. Again, though everyone has got to be a little bit better than where we are now. If these lads are staying then there will be challenges, there is no doubt about that.”

The Eagles are also set to offer veteran centre Menzie Yere a reduced playing role subject to the PNG ace’s residency.